Airlink, the Southern African regional airline, announces the temporary suspension of its services between OR Tambo International Airport and Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, with immediate effect. This temporary suspension is directly attributable to the failure of the airports navigation beacons. The services are planned to resume again on Friday, 29 January 2010, once the beacons have been repaired.
“This drastic step is most unfortunate, but it is essential in order to allow the airport and its operator the Eastern Cape provincial government, the opportunity to address the ongoing unavailability of service of the two non-directional beacons which are essential in guiding aircraft to the runway during times when there is no visibility due to cloud or night time operations,” explained Airlink Chief Executive Officer, Rodger Foster.
One of the two beacons has been unserviceable for quite some time, and the second has worked only intermittently for months. There have been attempts to repair the beacons, but it seems that the repairs to date have had limited success.
“There have been several approaches to the airport in cloud conditions where Airlink flights have not been able to descend safely at Mthatha due to the unavailable of service of the beacons and have had to divert to East London. This has caused considerable anguish and frustration among our passengers.” he added.
Airlink will work around the clock in assisting airport management where possible to have the beacons repaired. Airlink, in recognising that the beacons have surpassed their usefulness, has in conjunction with the airport, embarked on a program to design and publish a new global navigation satellite system instrument approach procedure for Mthatha.
This new instrument approach procedure will be operational by 1 June 2010 and will rely solely on airborne navigation equipment. In the interim, it is imperative that the navigation beacons be repaired and be kept serviceable in order for the scheduled airline services to continue to operate reliably.
Passenger with travel arrangements over the next few days will have the choice of re-booking on a later date, or applying for a refund, or rerouting via East London.
“I want to thank our loyal customers for their continued support and apologise sincerely for any inconvenience caused by this temporary discontinuation of our normal Mthatha services,” he added.
Airlink serves 25 destinations in seven countries with over 3 300 flights a month. The provincial government has engaged two service providers to repair these two NDBs and they started their work on Friday, but being old equipment this can take time as spares are not readily available. Some spares have been obtained and we will try and have these beacons serviceable as soon as possible.
Unfortunately the weather patterns of late have been very poor in this area and therefore if an aircraft diverts it are in the interest of safety to all concerned. This repair process runs concurrently with the upgrade of the Mthatha Airport by three Mthatha based construction companies with a particular focus on the building of a temporary relocation structure, terminal building upgrade, civil works and fencing.
The main aim is to improve the capacity, use and management of the airport as a viable economic asset that contributes positively to tourism in the region.
Media contact:
Karin Murray
Tel: 011 451 7335
E-mail: karinmurray@flyairlink.com
Ncedo Kumbaca
Cell: 082 562 6023
E-mail: ncedo.kumbaca@dot.ecprov.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
25 January 2010
